Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 5th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share by the technology company on Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th.

Iridium Communications has a payout ratio of 54.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Iridium Communications to earn $0.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.2%.

Iridium Communications Stock Down 0.7 %

IRDM stock opened at $30.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a PE ratio of 32.14 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68. Iridium Communications has a 52 week low of $24.14 and a 52 week high of $41.66. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.24.

Iridium Communications (NASDAQ:IRDM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. Iridium Communications had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 14.34%. The company had revenue of $212.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $205.68 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Iridium Communications will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Iridium Communications news, Director Robert H. Niehaus sold 38,355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.39, for a total transaction of $1,127,253.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 254,824 shares in the company, valued at $7,489,277.36. This trade represents a 13.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Suzanne E. Mcbride sold 4,420 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total transaction of $130,301.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 182,797 shares in the company, valued at $5,388,855.56. The trade was a 2.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, BWS Financial reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Iridium Communications in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Iridium Communications presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Iridium Communications declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 19th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to repurchase up to 14.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Iridium Communications Company Profile

Iridium Communications Inc provides mobile voice and data communications services and products to businesses, the United States and international governments, non-governmental organizations, and consumers worldwide. The company offers postpaid mobile voice and data satellite communications; prepaid mobile voice satellite communications; push-to-talk; broadband data; and Internet of Things (IoT) services.